Over the short two week break that I had from school I spend my time writing up cover letters and responding to GIS intern positions. After I finished that I was looking for a project to start on, apparently "GIS boot camp" wound me up and I was a little high strung. I am also website administrator for this tennis group in Austin. They have 3 groups for the Austin region: Austin, Cedar Park and Round Rock. I thought that we should probably create another group, but first I had to evaluate the area. I decided to create a map, the same ones the real estate companies and organizations do. A map that divides Austin by neighborhood according to the real estate boundary descriptions.

I'm doing this from scratch so I had to search through my data to see if I could use anything. I wonder if real estate groups have a GIS clearinghouse like the City of Austin or CAPCOG. I have to create each of these neighborhoods and block them off by polygons to see which neighborhoods I could potential merge into a larger section. Still in the beginning stages for that, don't know if I'll be able to finish that anytime soon now that school has started.

My thoughts: I have finally completed my first two classes at Austin Community College, ACC. The chair of the GIS department, Sean Moran, described that experience of taking both 5.5 week summer sessions of GIS I and II as "GIS Boot Camp." He really wasn't kidding. It was definitely an experience, it was a great one though. I really needed to absorb as much information I could in those 11 weeks. I am so glad I took those summer classes because I feel more prepared and caught up to others that may have taken a few semesters of GIS classes.

My plans: in this short two week break I have between classes, I would really like to land an internship or an entry-level GIS job in the fall. I want to be able to utilize what I have learned in the classroom and  transfer it to a working environment. Even though I have already earned my bachelor's degree, an internship opportunity is really important. I wasn't able to participate in any internships during my time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, UNLV, because I was working simultaneously. I feel like I missed out on a great opportunity to learn from professionals, to network...just a missed opportunity. This time I won't let it slip through my fingers, I have put in my resume out there for 3 internship opportunities and one entry-level job. And now my journey begins... ::Fingers crossed::